Swimmer's body heats up to face Antarctic waters

A British-born lawyer was last night attempting to break a world swimming record in Antarctic waters wearing only trunks and a swimming hat, after years of training that have enabled his body to survive at sub-zero temperatures.

Lewis Pugh was hoping to break the record for the most southerly swim near the Ukrainian scientific base of Vernadsky at 65 degrees south. The water temperature was expected to be at 0C or lower, which few people would survive for more than a few minutes. Mr Pugh's swim of 1km was expected to take 22 minutes. He owes his ability to survive, the Lancet medical journal revealed yesterday, to long training that has accustomed his body to experience a Pavlovian response even to the sight of icy water. "As soon as I see the water, my temperature rockets up to 38C," he said. "Before a swim my body becomes like a furnace. It realises that I'm going to get cold and so turns on the burners."

The 35-year-old, who lives in South Africa, already holds the record for the most northerly swim, at Verlegenhuken, the most northern point of Spitsbergen, just 1,100km from the north pole. During the 20-minute swim, his body lost 1C of core temperature every 10 minutes, so starting at 38C meant it was possible to finish.

Mr Pugh's training for the latest record attempt involved swimming in a pool containing water at 2C for 15 to 20 minutes four times a week. A normal swimming pool is heated to 27C .

Limb coordination is hard in icy water and Mr Pugh has had problems with cuts from ice in the past. "It's a hell of a hostile environment to be swimming in," he said. "Just like Edmund Hilary wanted to be the first person to climb Everest, I wanted to be the first person to swim in the Arctic."